U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,143 (1997) to Langevin (incorporated herein by reference) discloses a transmission system having a compact cluster of tapered gears that are selectively engagable with a selector gear.
Such transmissions are suited for heavy trucks which require large braking forces when going downhill.
A summary of relevant art follows below:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,143 (1987) to Langevin discloses a cone shaped plurality of driven gears with a drive gear movable along a fork dolly. The invention focuses on rapidly moving the drive gear in 0.01 second between driven gears while controlling the shift to occur only when proper load and mesh conditions are met. There is no reverse gear shown. There is no disc brake (braking using engine) mechanism shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 918,773 (1909) to Schatz discloses a gear cone for a machine tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,111,551 (1914) to Adams discloses a vehicle transmission using a gear cone. A sliding drive gear changes the speed of the driven cone. The cone gears have an internal clutch. A reverse gear is shown, idler gear 37, shaft 36 and gear 38 on sleeve 7. No brake is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,191,771 (1916) to Delacour discloses a gearless, smooth cone driven by the motor. The driven gear G is moved along the cone.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,453,478 (1923) to Osborn discloses a traveling gear driven by the engine. The driven gears are a cone configuration. FIG. 3 shows a reverse gear assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,471,162 (1923) to Iacobacci discloses a gear cone transmission. The driving gear moves along the driven gear cone. A reverse is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,508,879 (1924) to Healey discloses a gear cone transmission and clutch means.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,817,819 (1931) to Healey discloses a gear cone transmission and clutch for a machine tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,538 (1960) to Schafer discloses a high speed gear cone transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,365 (1962) to Gerchow discloses a machine tool gear cone transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,390 (1971) to Barrett discloses a smooth face cone transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,571 (1972) to Sainz discloses a vehicle transmission with a gear cone. Two driver shafts are shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,495 (1986) to Smith discloses a concave, parabolic cone transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,889 (1989) to Howard discloses a bicycle gear cone drive. U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,685 (1995) to Park discloses a smooth cone transmission. U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,305 (2003) to Van Cor discloses a cone with conic and scaling teeth.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,709,355 (2004) to O'Hora discloses a continuously variable cone transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,229 (2004) to Lambert discloses a continuously variable cone transmission with a helical rack.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,232,396 (2007) and Pub. No. US/2005/0215391 to Reisch et al. discloses a dual cone transmission.
WO 2007/034154 discloses a bicycle cone drive.
What is needed in the art is an alternative braking system to augment and/or replace the braking force provided by the engine and gears during a downshift operation.
Downshifting adds wear to the transmission, engine and clutch. The present invention reduces this wear by providing a driver actuated disc brake in the transmission assembly.